Bow hunting and competitive target archery are both increasing in popularity as ever more sophisticated equipment is available. In the past twenty years, compound bows have replaced traditional recurve single-piece bows as the bow of choice for both serious hunters and competitive archers. Technology development of arrows has generally not kept pace with the bow technology, so that most advances in the sport have come about as a result of bow technology.
One of the few modifications to an arrow that will increase an archer's efficiency is to shorten the overall length of the arrow. A shorter arrow is faster (over 285 feet per second for a 20-inch arrow, versus about 230 feet per second with a conventional 32-inch arrow), and because it weighs less, follows a flatter trajectory. This makes range estimates less critical, minimizes the impact of this variable, and effectively increases the target or hitting area for the archer. Numerous manufacturers provide overdraw devices which position the support location for an arrow aft of the bow riser portion.
As shorter and shorter arrows have come into use, the support location for the arrow has moved to within the range of travel of the drawstring upon release, namely from the drawstring full-draw rear location to its forwardmost location upon release. All current overdraw systems usable with the shortest arrows suffer from the same defect: the drawstring necessarily strikes the overdraw apparatus on its forwardmost movement when the arrow is released. Furthermore, most all such overdraw devices interfere with the compound bow tension cables (draw cables) which also move forward relative to the bow upon drawstring release. The impact of the string and cables against the overdraw arrow rest produces significant wear of the cables and drawstring, causing their replacement more quickly than is otherwise desired. The impact also produces a significant impact noise which can frighten targeted animals and result in missed shots.
It is also postulated that such impact adversely affects the flight of the arrow as it leaves the bow. It would be desirable to produce an overdraw arrow rest apparatus that overcomes these drawbacks.